Meet the Future Mrs Lupin
by SweetDeamon
Summary: Obliviated muggles, sarcastic parents, chatty old ladies, hospital waiting times and a broken wrist are just the tip of a very large iceberg for Teddy Lupin as he prepares to ask his girlfriend a very important question... Meet the... ficverse. AU. TLOC


_Note: Yes, I was listening to Bruno Mars. No, I don't usually do that at all._

_This 'fic makes references to Meet the Order of the Phoenix, and probably a few others, too..._

_In other, more interesting news, I have a new poll up! Because I was bored/avoiding writing my Dissertation Preparation Pack/sick of editing a German language film that I can't understand! Anyway, it is about other Meet the... one shots, which gaps you want filled in the most. So, go forth and vote and I might just get round to writing them!_

_Brief reminder: Anybody adding me on Pottermore – please PM me on FF and let me know who you actually are! :-)_

_This turned into a one shot of Epic Length, it's the longest one I've ever written. I've been writing it over meals and when I should be sleeping (because those are the only times I've had when I haven't been working!). I hope somebody enjoys it! :-)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The only thing I created myself here is Caroline "Carrie" Winters and her family._

**Meet the Future Mrs. Lupin**

He'd been planning it for half a decade.

Teddy Lupin liked to think of it like that. Half a decade sounded a whole lot longer than five years, after all, and the length of his planning was important. It was proof. Proof that this was without doubt the most certain thing he would ever do in his life.

He'd wanted to do it when he was seventeen, but when he'd informed his mother of his grand intentions, Dora Lupin had not bothered to look up from the cauldron she was stirring and murmured rather disinterestedly:

"That's nice, love."

"I do, Mum!" Teddy insisted, fidgeting a little from where he stood beside the open door leading out into the back garden. "I really do!"

"I never said you didn't, Teddy." the Deputy Head of Aurors told him, offering him a raised eyebrow, and he had just opened his mouth to mutter that with a tone like that she didn't have to, when his father appeared in the doorway and his mother grinned widely and instructed:

"You better go fish out your best dress robes from the back of the wardrobe, Remus love!"

"Oh?" the werewolf said as he wandered across the kitchen to pull open a drawer and peer searchingly inside. "What's the occasion?"

"Your son's getting married."

"Goodness...best get the shoe polish out then, hadn't I?"

At the utterly livid scowl that Teddy bestowed upon the pair of them, Dora consented to setting down her wand upon the kitchen table and telling him:

"Don't look like that, Ted, you know we're only teasing."

"You think I'm silly." Teddy accused, scowling again when the witch informed him:

"No love, I think you're young and in love. Granted, that probably makes you silly all the same, but there's a subtle difference. Where's all this coming from, anyway? You and Carrie have only been together what...four, five months..."

"Five months and twelve and a half days."

"Right...exactly. That's not very long, is it?"

"But I've known her forever! I don't want anybody else..."

"That's lovely, Sweetheart. But what's the rush, eh? Don't you reckon seventeen is a tad young to be thinking about getting married? Or even just engaged? You've not finished school yet..."

"I'm of age!"

"Carrie isn't. Muggles come of age when they're eighteen. And she'll be off to University!"

"I don't see your point."

"I think what your mother is trying to say," Remus put in as he abandoned his searching through the drawer to turn and face his son, "is that being legally of age isn't really the same as being a true adult. And why should it be? What's so wrong with being young and carefree whilst you can get away with it? Seventeen is no age to be getting engaged or married or anything of the sort..."

"I bet Harry's parents weren't much older!" Teddy pointed out rather triumphantly, only for Dora to mutter:

"I wasn't aware there was a war on, Remus, were you?"

"The war had nothing to do with it!" Teddy grumbled, only for his mother to mutter rather darkly:

"It had everything to do with it. War changes things. If there hadn't have been a war on Dad and I wouldn't have married at all..."

"Because you'd never have met."

"Because Dad wouldn't have been pushed into it." As Remus turned to stare deliberately out of the kitchen window Dora explained: "That's what war does, Ted. It pushes us into things we'd not consider doing otherwise. And sometimes that can turn into a good thing, to do things when you're not quite ready. But getting married isn't one of those things..."

"But Dad did it."

"Dad got lucky. And Dad wasn't _seventeen_."

Teddy pulled a face, folding her arms irritably across his chest as he informed his mother:

"You ruin everything, did you know that?"

"Of course I do, Sweetheart." Dora told him, waving a dismissive hand as she turned her attention back to the potion she was brewing. "I'm your mum! Anyway, how's that homework of yours coming? You've only a week before we bundle you back onto that train, you know!"

He had been so irritated by his parents' responses that a whole year passed before he bothered to mention anything of the sort again, and he'd tried to be more subtle about it, too. After all he needed them to take him seriously, if they were to give him serious advice.

His first course of action was to split them up. That made it far more difficult for them to gang up on him.

He cornered his father one morning after full moon, when Remus had been lying sprawled upon the sofa in the living room, much too sore and weary to ruin things with his usual humour, because he rarely found anything amusing on mornings like that.

"Dad?"

"Mm...sleeping, Ted..."

"No you're not. Dad?"

"Mm...?"

"What happened when you asked Mum to marry you?"

There was a long pause as the werewolf groped blindly around in the fatigued confides of his mind before he mumbled:

"She said yes. And we got married."

Teddy folded his arms across his chest with a huff, leaning against the fireplace as he asked:

"Are you being dim on purpose?"

"Yes." Remus consented to admitting, yawning widely. "Would you let me go to sleep now?"

"No. Tell me what happened...like...how did you do it? Where? Why?"

"_Why did I ask her to marry me_...?"

"No, Dad! Why did you ask her in the way you did!"

Remus sighed heavily, shifting under his blankets until he was sitting vaguely upright, slumped against a mound of pillows.

"Well...I don't suppose I did ask her at first, technically speaking..."

"Then what happened?" Teddy asked eagerly, and his father puffed his cheeks, frowning deeply.

"I said something incredibly foolish."

"And that was what? No, wait! Wait, where were you when it happened?"

"We were at the Burrow...we'd stayed the night after having dinner with Molly, Arthur and a few others, they lent us a couple of beds for the night. Your mother was making a cup of tea in the kitchen and Molly and Arthur were in the sitting room, talking..."

"And?"

"And I just...looked through the door at them sitting there together, looking so happy despite everything that was going on...and then I turned round to your mother stood there pouring the tea...and I just said the first stupid thing that came into my head."

"Which was what, exactly?"

Remus screwed his eyes shut for a moment, apparently deeply embarrassed, before he drew in a deep breath and recalled:

"_I think I want to marry you_."

"And what did she say back?" Teddy asked, excitement bubbling up in his stomach, only for his father to tell him:

"She turned around to look and me and said: _What?_"

"And then you said...?"

"_Oh nothing!_"

Teddy very nearly sighed in exasperation, and Remus recalled:

"And then she asked me if I wanted a chocolate biscuit with my tea...I said yes, and as she handed it over with my mug she said: _How does next weekend sound to you? _I asked her what she meant and she said: _Us getting married, obviously_...which was a bit scary because I didn't think it was all that obvious. And then I told her I didn't think that was a wise idea..."

"What did she say then?"

"She said: _How about Monday morning, then?_"

Teddy sniggered.

"Of course I told her that wasn't what I meant...we couldn't just get married on a whim like that. So she said we had better sit down and talk about it...we talked about it for a good hour or so and I realised I should have kept my mouth shut because there was absolutely no chance she was going to let me walk away without agreeing to it...saying no to your mother has never been one of my strong points, she's entirely incapable of taking no as an answer..."

"You didn't want to marry her?"

"Of course I did...that didn't make it a sensible idea though, did it? I suppose in a way I wanted her to hear me say it, hear me admit that I loved her enough that I wanted to marry her...but I thought that it would turn out badly for her, that it ought stay as a mere wish. Anyway, it didn't matter what I thought, she wasn't going to listen...which was secretly rather wonderful...to think she honestly wanted to be with me and marry me despite everything! I decided if I was going to throw all caution to the wind and damn the pair of us until death do us part, I had better do it properly. So I told her I wasn't going to agree to marry her because I didn't have a ring and I hadn't spoken to her father."

"You spoke to her dad?"

"Yes. I couldn't not speak to her dad, Ted. You have to ask permission, you see, for the father's blessing. It wouldn't have been right, otherwise."

"And then...and then you got her an engagement ring...?"

"Not precisely...I borrowed one at first. Molly leant me hers for the day so that I could propose. I didn't manage to buy one for several years."

"Then what?"

"Well it didn't turn out to be a particularly grand or romantic gesture, it's difficult to surprise somebody with an engagement ring when they're wholly expecting you to do it."

"Did you get down on one knee?"

"Of course I did."

"Where?"

"I interrupted Alastor mid-speech at an Order meeting and did it in front of everybody. I supposed that was the time she would least be expecting it...what with how quiet we usually were about things between us. It was important, I thought, to do it in front of everybody. I didn't want her to think I was unsure about doing it, so I thought a few witnesses might come in handy. Just to prove I was being deadly serious and certain."

"What did she do?"

"Oddly enough she was unnaturally calm about it."

"Really?"

"Oh yes...for about half a second! She said yes, waited for me to slip the ring on her finger and promptly threw her arms around me with such enthusiasm that I very nearly cracked my head on the edge of the kitchen table. Everybody made a huge fuss for a few minutes, and then Alastor told them all to sit down and be quiet. Then we gave Molly her ring back and went on with the meeting as normal."

"That was it? No...no big celebration or...or anything?"

"Molly found a bottle of wine...there wasn't enough to go around so your mother and I shared a glass. A few other people gave reports, we decided where and when to meet again. Then everybody went home, and that was that. It's not all about being big and grand, I don't think. Just as long as it's...meaningful in some way."

"So it was meaningful because you went out of your way to interrupt Moody?"

"Yes. It was important enough that I interrupted him, and it was serious enough because I did it in front of the people who mattered to us. It wasn't fireworks atop a hill or...or a big band on her mother's front lawn...I didn't write it in sparkling letters across the sky or anything elaborate and silly like that. It was just...simple, heartfelt and honest. That's the best way to do it, I couldn't really have got it wrong."

"Unless she had said no."

"Indeed, that might've rendered it all a resolute failure."

"What would you have done if she'd said no? If she'd changed her mind or something?"

Remus sighed heavily, eyes drifting closed as he pulled the blankets up towards his chin.

"I'd have been massively embarrassed." the werewolf decided sleepily. "But most of all I'd have been incredibly relieved."

At this final admittance, his son frowned deeply.

Some people, he mused as he chewed thoughtfully upon a nail, were very strange.

His father was definitely one of them.

Teddy cornered his mother a few evenings later in her bedroom, where she was busy pouring over the contents of her wardrobe, searching for something to wear to an office party of one form or another.

"Mum?"

"Alright, love?"

"You know ages ago...when Dad proposed to you?"

"Vaguely...!"

At the raised eyebrow that she shot him over her shoulder, Teddy winced a little. Perhaps, he mused, he ought have struck up this conversation several hours later, once she had come back from dinner. She might have drunk a little bit too much wine, or with luck far too much and the whole conversation would be easier. She wouldn't insist on being infuriatingly witty.

As it happened, it was all a bit late for Teddy to be realising this, because Dora consented to wondering:

"Why?"

"Was it...good?" Teddy mumbled reluctantly, and as he dropped down to perch upon the edge of his parents' bed the Auror reached to pull a dress down from the rail, eying it in consideration. "I mean, did he do it...properly?"

"Of course he did, Ted." Dora chuckled, turning to face the mirror in the corner, holding the garment against herself, only to toss it aside and turn back to the wardrobe. "I'm pretty sure Dad couldn't do something like that _improperly_ if he tried!"

"So he did it the right way? The way you wanted?"

"Yep. It was perfect."

"What was perfect about it?"

Throwing aside another dress, Dora sighed heavily, turning to fix her son with such a knowing look that it made him fidget.

_Bugger_, the young wizard thought, _she knows I'm up to something_...

And sure enough, she came to drop down next to him, that eyebrow of hers creeping infuriatingly up towards her hairline again.

"It was perfect because he thought carefully about the sort of proposal I would want. There's no formula for the perfect proposal, Teddy. Dad proposing to me is entirely different from...from Harry proposing to Ginny, or Bill proposing to Fleur...or _you_ proposing to _Carrie_."

Teddy waited for her to snigger, or remind him that eighteen was no age at all to get engaged, but she said nothing, reaching to toy absentmindedly with the engagement ring upon her finger. Feeling quite relieved by her silence, he dared wonder:

"What sort of proposal do you suppose you would want then, if you were Carrie?"

"If I were Carrie?"

"Yes."

Dora puffed her cheeks in consideration, lips twitching towards a smile.

"A private one. She's never one to be the centre of attention is she? And judging from how much she blushed when you gave her those flowers the other week I reckon she'd not want something massively elaborate. I'm not sure she'd know what to do with herself if you showed up at her University on a winged horse with a shower of fireworks in tow..."

"Plus doing something like that would get me arrested." Teddy pointed out, grinning widely, and the witch agreed:

"Well yeah, that too. Getting arrested halfway through proposing is never a good plan. You should take her somewhere nice and quiet, somewhere you think is special...don't hang around too much because you'll just get nervous and she'll think something dreadful is about to happen...which it might be if she ends up saying no..."

"You think she might?" Teddy felt his shoulders hunch at the mere notion. It was utterly unthinkable, he could not imagine anything more awful if he tried. He felt his heart sinking when his mother's gaze upon him grew suddenly stern.

"If you asked her tomorrow? Maybe, Ted. She might be halfway sensible and agree with your dad and me that eighteen is a stupid age to get engaged."

"Carrie isn't halfway sensible, Mum. She's _bloody clueless_."

"Not the best way to talk about your future fiancee, Sweetheart..."

"Your words, Mum, not mine!"

Despite his attempts at humour, Dora was far from amused.

"Yeah? Well I hope for your sake she at least has a clue about the fact that getting married in your teens would be a massively foolish decision..."

"You want her to say no?"

"I want you to be sensible and wait a few more years before you ask her! Failing that, yes! I want her to say no! Live your life, for Merlin's sake love! What's the rush? Take your time, enjoy being young and carefree for a while longer! Now...go and frolic around in the back garden, deafen us with some awful music, sulk in your bedroom and write crap poetry, go out and hang around in the park, or whatever else young people are meant to do! Act your age! Go on! I'm meant to be leaving soon..."

Although Teddy did disappear off into his bedroom, he wasted no time sulking about his mother's lack of enthusiasm for his plans. Instead he found himself a notebook and quill and set about making a list of everything he deemed important to remember.

_Ask her dad for his blessing._

_Be meaningful._

_Be serious._

_Pick somewhere private._

_Keep it simple._

_Get Mum and Dad's blessing._

It was this final reminder to himself that persuaded Teddy to hide his list away in the bottom of his sock drawer for a few more years, until the summer that Carrie was due to graduate from University. Some week before she was due to come back to Eddington for good, he dug out the list again and set about forming some sort of concrete plan.

He was going to get it right. This was going to be the perfect proposal, Teddy was absolutely determined...

He ran into problems at Number One. After all it was difficult to ask Mr. Winters for permission to marry his daughter when it just so happened that he was shut up in a ward at St. Mungo's, suffering from permanent memory loss which had left him to firmly believe that his darling little daughter was still just seventeen years old. Teddy himself had only glimpsed either of Carrie's Obliviated parents once or twice since their admittance to the hospital some four years earlier. He had apparated Carrie into London so that she could visit them occasionally, but had always remained out in the corridor, chancing the occasional glance at them through the window.

Teddy apparated to St. Mungo's one morning before heading over to the Potters' house for tea. He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing there, or what he was actually planning to do, but nevertheless he wandered through the reception area and into a lift, jabbing at the button to take him to the floor housing the Spell Damage wards.

He supposed he just wanted to see his future inlaws in their current state. Make an effort to talk to them, familiarise them with him in some vague capacity. Of course he couldn't tell them he planned on marrying their daughter, and the chances were they would forget him within half an hour or so once he had left. But that didn't matter. That wasn't the point. Not that Teddy knew for sure what the point of his visit actually was...he simply needed to do it.

By the double doors leading onto the ward he found a little reception desk of sorts, behind which sat an elderly, slightly tubby witch dressed in lime green healers robes. She peered up at the approaching wizard with a kind smile and inquired:

"Can I help you, dear?"

"I um...I'm here to see Mr and Mrs Winters." Teddy told her a little uncertainly, and the witch rose briskly to her feet.

"How lovely!" she exclaimed, reaching to straighten a number of papers on the desk. "Their daughter hasn't been to see them in a long while! They'd love a visitor, I'm sure! Are you family?"

For a long moment, Teddy didn't reply. He was too busy attempting to fight off the sudden nerves that were assaulting his stomach as he gazed at the double doors in front of him.

There was a reason why Carrie had not been to visit her parents for over two months, why Teddy had given up on receiving an owl asking him to apparate her from University to the hospital, why both Remus and Dora had given up offering to do so themselves when Teddy was unavailable.

It was because Carrie had found her last visit somewhat of an ordeal.

That day, Teddy had barely been waiting out in the corridor for five minutes before Carrie had come dashing out through the doors, face so pale and eyes so wide that it was as if she had caught sight of a boggart.

"What's wrong?" Teddy had asked as the muggle had come to a skidding halt in front of him, one hand reaching to clamp down over her mouth. And with her free hand Carrie had reached to point a trembling hand over her shoulder, whispering:

"_They're_ in there!"

"Who?"

"_They_ are!"

"Who are they, Sweetheart?"

For a moment Carrie had simply squeezed her eyes shut, unable to utter a word, before she had sucked in a deep breath and squeaked:

"Frank and Alice Longbottom!"

Teddy had felt rather as if he had taken a bludger to the stomach.

"No they're not," he'd insisted stiffly. "The Longbottoms stay in the other ward, Dad went and gave Alice flowers for her birthday last week..."

"Well they've been moved!" Carrie snapped, rocking back on her heels in agitation. "I...I just saw them, they're...they're in the beds opposite Mum and Dad!"

Teddy rather wanted to turn around and head home as quickly as possible then. He had the horrible feeling that Carrie was about to ask him to go back in there with her, to provide some much needed moral support, but he wasn't sure he felt up to it.

After all, the fate of Neville Longbottom's parents had always made Teddy feel uneasy. And that had been before several years ago when he and Carrie had landed themselves in the past thanks to a broken time-turner, before promptly coming face to face with Frank and Alice themselves. The two time-travellers had even spent time staying at Frank and Alice's house. The two Aurors had been extremely warm and friendly. Frank had had a good sense of humour and Alice had been a rather cuddly, mother-like figure. They had been jolly and full of life. Despite attempting to keep their distance, Teddy and Carrie had been very fond of them.

"What're they like?" Teddy had whispered, remembering pretty, bubbly Alice and tall, smiling Frank, and Carrie had shook her head, face contorting as she told him:

"They're like...like ghosts...like...like shadows! They're all thin and...and lifeless! They're...they're shuffling around like...like they don't even know what's going on around them! And...and they look so...so old, Ted! So, so old! I could barely recognise them! It was...it was...I know I sound awful, but it was horrible!"

They had left soon after.

As he stood, staring at the double doors, Teddy drew in a deep breath and attempted to steady his nerves.

_They're just people_, he told himself firmly. _They're still Frank and Alice. _

And if Carrie could go in and see but a shadow of her own parents every few weeks, or indeed if Neville could visit the wasted fragments that were left of his parents' former selves, there was no doubt in Teddy's mind that he could see them too. If their own children could be strong for them, Teddy had absolutely no excuse...

"I said are you family, dear?" the witch asked again, turning to look at him questioningly, and Teddy swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I'm their daughter's boyfriend."

"Can I have a name?" the witch said, snatching up a quill pen, poised to scribble down his response.

"Theodore Lupin."

"I see. Right then, Theodore! Step this way, they'll be very pleased to see you I'm sure!"

And with that, Teddy watched her stride over to push open the doors, and he found himself shuffling along after her. It was a relatively small ward consisting of just eight beds, the two nearest the doors vacant, their linen sheets pristine white and entirely crease-free. The next bed on the right was occupied by a young witch who looked scarcely old enough to be on an adult ward. She was tucked up snugly, fast asleep and snoring softly. In the bed opposite her, to Teddy's left as he passed, was a portly man with a shiny, bald head that made him look rather like an oversized baby. It didn't help that he appeared to be sucking his thumb, gazing blankly down at his bare feet as if he had never seen anything quite like them before in his life. Teddy felt quite disconcerted at the sight of him, and hurriedly fixed his gaze upon the two beds to the far right by the window. He knew they were the two beds that accommodated Carrie's parents from his glimpses into the ward on previous visits. Teddy felt relieved to spot out of the corner of his eye that the curtains around the other two remaining beds had been drawn.

Perhaps Frank and Alice liked their privacy.

Christine and Michael Winters were sat in their respective beds, both dressed in hospital gowns, she fiddling with a long string of bright red beads that hung around her neck and he watching her do so as if it were fascinating. As the healer bustled up to the end of Mr. Winters' bed, both of Carrie's parents turned to look at her. Apart from their attire, Teddy didn't think they looked all that different from when he had known them before, though the cheery, almost child-like expressions on their faces were somewhat telling.

"Michael, Christine dear, look! You've got a visitor!" the witch exclaimed, rather as if they were indeed children. "This nice young man has come to see you! Isn't that lovely?" To Teddy she suggested: "Why don't you take a seat? Here, we'll pull up a chair..."

"He isn't Caroline." Mrs. Winters observed, eying Teddy rather disappointedly as he dropped down into a plastic chair between the two beds, and the witch agreed:

"No, Christine dear, he isn't! I'm sure Caroline will come and visit you very soon though, won't she?"

As Mr. Winters simply stared at Teddy rather blankly, his wife wondered:

"Where is she?" Leaning to peer down the aisle towards the double doors, she asked: "Where is Caroline?"

"She's not here, Christine." the healer reminded her patiently. "See here, this is Theodore. He's come to visit you instead. Isn't that nice?"

When Mrs. Winters merely continued to strain her neck in an attempt to catch sight of her daughter, the healer informed Teddy:

"They recognise Caroline every time she visits now! They so look forward to her coming, isn't that right Michael dear? It's lovely when Caroline comes to see you, isn't it?"

"Caroline is my daughter." Mr. Winters told Teddy, a wide and lopsided smile spreading happily across his face, and Teddy did his best to match the beaming expression as he told the muggle:

"Yes, she talks about you all the time Mr. Winters. Caroline and I are very good friends."

Mr. Winters frowned deeply as the healer set about attempting to settle Mrs. Winters back down in her bed because she was on the verge of toppling off the end of it in her attempts to catch a glimpse of her daughter.

"What's your name?" Mr. Winters wondered, though he had been told it only moments beforehand, peering at Teddy curiously.

"My name is Teddy, Mr. Winters. Teddy Lupin."

The muggle's face contorted into a rather disgruntled expression.

"Caroline has never mentioned you."

"Now that's not true, is it Michael dear?" the healer said, having finally persuaded Mrs. Winters to sit back against her pillows. "Caroline talks about her friend Teddy all the time, doesn't she? How they go for walks in the park together and how they buy sweets at the sweet shop at the weekend..."

"Does he have any sweets with him?" Mrs. Winters wondered, sounding rather hopeful, which Teddy found almost amusing because she had forever been warning Carrie not to eat too many sweets as a child.

"Oh...um..." Teddy hastily dug searchingly around in his pockets until his fingers located a half-empty packet of gummy sweets. He wondered just how long they had been lurking in there, but supposed it was better not to think of that. "Here..." Leaning forward he held the packet out to Mrs. Winters, and she eyed the offering thoughtfully before reaching to snatch them up, grinning broadly.

"Caroline always brings sweets." she announced as she reached to select a sweet, and her husband agreed:

"Yes, she does. She's my daughter, you know!"

"Well you've got a wonderful daughter, Mr. Winters." Teddy told him as the healer offered him one last smile before shuffling off down the other end of the ward to check on her other charges. "We all think so, my family and I. We all love her very much."

"Do you really?"

"Yes, very, very much."

"And...who are you?"

"I'm Teddy, Mr. Winters. Teddy Lupin."

"I see..."

"And where is Caroline?" Mrs. Winters wanted to know, and as she leant to peer around searchingly once more, Teddy explained:

"Caroline isn't here, Mrs. Winters. She's...at college."

"Caroline goes to Goodwin College. She is studying for her A-Levels, you know." Mr. Winters announced proudly, and his wife complained:

"I can't see her..."

"Perhaps she will come and visit you another day." Teddy suggested kindly. "When she isn't at college. She must have lots of homework to do, mustn't she? She works very hard."

"Yes she does." Mr Winters agreed as Mrs. Winters frowned deeply at the double doors. "She's my daughter, you know!"

All of a sudden, Mrs Winters dropped the packet of sweets to the floor, spilling the contents all over the tiles so that she could raise an arm to point at something over Teddy's shoulder. The muggle gave an infantile giggle before she announced:

"She's always doing that! Hehe!"

Without much thought, Teddy turned in his chair to see what she was pointing at, and promptly froze.

There, peering through a gap in the curtains drawn around the opposite beds, was round, pale face framed by short strands of limp grey hair, with large, sunken and unmistakable brown eyes...

Teddy simply stared.

It was as if he had been doused in icy cold water, as if the air had suddenly been knocked from his lungs...  
It was even worse than he had first imagined.

Alice Longbottom smiled vaguely.

Teddy attempted to swallow the lump in his throat and managed it on his second attempt. He raised an uncertain hand and offered the former Auror a wave.

"Hello Alice." he called, attempting to sound cheery, but within a blink of an eye she had disappeared back behind the curtain.

"She's always doing that." Mrs. Winters giggled cheerfully. "Now, where is Caroline?"

"Um..." Teddy mumbled, staring at the join in the curtains, struggling to think clearly. "Carrie...Caroline isn't here."

"Caroline's my daughter, you know!" Mr. Winters said, and Teddy rose unsteadily to his feet, dragging his gaze away from the curtain so that he could look at his future inlaws, forcing himself to smile.

"I know, Mr. Winters. She's a lovely girl. She's very special to me. She's special to all of us. We love her very much. That's why I have come to see you. I...I just wanted to come and tell you...how...how special Caroline is."

"She's very special." Mr. Winters agreed, and Mrs Winters paused in reaching to pick up a gummy sweet from the floor to agree:

"Yes, Caroline is very special. She's my daughter. She brings sweets. Not like these ones, these ones are not very nice." And with that, she popped the sweet into her mouth and grinned broadly.

"I...I shouldn't eat those now they've been on the floor if I were you..." Teddy mumbled rather uncertainly, but she took no notice of him. As he reached to straighten his jacket, Teddy informed them: "Well, I am going to leave now, Mr and Mrs Winters."

"And then will Caroline come?" Mrs. Winters wanted to know, chewing noisily upon a sweet, and Teddy very nearly sighed.

"Not straight away, no. She is very busy..."

"She is at college."

"Yes, Mr. Winters, she is. But...but I am sure she will come and see you soon. And...and when I see her I shall tell her that I have been to see you. I shall tell her what a nice talk we have had about her, and how special you think she is."

"Oh, how lovely!" Mrs. Winters exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight, and Mr. Winters agreed:

"Yes, how lovely! And...what is your name?"

"Teddy Lupin, Mr. Winters. I'm Caroline's friend. I love her very much."

"We all do."

"That's right, we all do. Goodbye then, Mr. Winters. Goodbye Mrs. Winters."

"Goodbye, Teddy Lupin." Mr. Winters said, and Teddy felt quite relieved that he appeared to finally have some sort of grasp on his visitor's name. And as Teddy turned to walk away, he heard the muggle inform his wife: "He loves Caroline very much, you know!"

"Yes, he does." Mrs. Winters agreed. "Is Caroline coming now?"

Teddy was over an hour late for tea at the Potters.

"And what time d'you reckon this is, then?" his mother had wondered when he had shuffled into the kitchen where she and Ginny Potter were busy arranging tea on a couple of large metal trays, and before Teddy could mumble an explanation, Ginny had shrugged and announced:

"Doesn't matter, Tonks. Just means he gets to do the washing up!" Offering the young wizard a grin, the red headed witch informed him: "The others are in the garden."

Teddy had trailed across the kitchen towards the back door, only for him to find a firm hand upon his shoulder.

"Alright, Sweetheart?" Dora asked as Ginny set the last plate of sandwiches down upon the tray and set about expertly levitating it towards the back door. Teddy pursed his lips together in consideration, waiting until Ginny was out of earshot.

"I um...I went to the hospital," he mumbled, gaze upon his shoes. "To see...to see Carrie's mum and dad."

"Yeah? How'd it go?"

"It went...alright. I um...I saw...I saw Alice Longbottom."

Dora sucked in an audible breath, her grip upon his shoulder tightening.

"You should've said, love! Dad or I could've gone with you..."

"Why? Carrie always goes on her own..."

"Well yeah, but if she says she's going we always offer."

"I'm alright! I am, it's just...well..."

"Bit of a shock to the system, eh?"

"Mm...I...I waved at her and said hello...but she just went away again."

Dora sighed heavily, leaning to slide an arm around him, hugging him tightly.

"How were Carrie's mum and dad?"

"Um...they were alright, I suppose. They...they just sit there...waiting for Carrie to visit them...it's sort of nice, they love her to bits..."

"Of course they do. They're her parents. And they know it."

As Dora drew away from him, Teddy at last smiled.

"Thanks to you and Dad." he murmured. "Getting them to Mungo's before they lost it entirely..."

"Yep." A rather pained expression passed over Dora's face, before she pursed her lips together with a nod. "Best thing we could've done!"

Teddy rather wished he hadn't said anything. It never got mentioned, what Remus and Dora had done for Carrie's parents. Nobody spoke of it, the consequences of their bordering on futile attempts to regain some vague shred of Carrie's family life had cost them so dearly that they usually pretended it had never happened.

"I go and see them too, sometimes." Dora admitted, gazing out into the back garden where the Potter children were busy whizzing around above the lawn on their broomsticks in a game that vaguely resembled Quidditch. "If I get myself bashed up a bit and land myself there for the afternoon...or if I have to drop somebody else off. They just talk about Carrie, don't they? Caroline this, Caroline that...she's our daughter, you know! And I think to myself, Remus and I did that for them. We gave them their daughter back." The witch sighed heavily, her head coming to rest against her son's shoulder and she murmured: "And then I think...look at how they've lost their minds. Look at what they had in their lives. Remus and I let the Dousers destroy that."

"It wasn't your fault, Mum."

"Of course it's our fault, Ted. We took Carrie away from harm. Why didn't we take them away, too? Why did we just leave them behind to fend for themselves?"

"The Dousers shouldn't have targeted them! They didn't know anything about the magical world!"

"And yet...there they are! Banged up in St. Mungo's..." Dora trailed off, frowning deeply before she straightened up, giving herself a little shake. "Well I'm glad you went to see them." she said. "What made you decide to do that, anyway?"

Teddy felt his cheeks tinge pink as she mumbled:

"I don't know...I just thought I should...because you know..." he trailed off, frowning deeply before turning a little so that he could gaze at his mother seriously. "I don't quite know what to do, Mum."

"About what, love?"

"About Carrie...proposing to her, I mean."

"Ah." Dora's lips twitched towards a smile as she folded her arms across her chest. "I was wondering when we'd have another one of these conversations..."

"I've been out of school three years, I've been working, I've got some money saved and I think...I think we're old enough..." Teddy began, worried that she might just stamp on his plans and ruin them as she had done before, but to his relief she simply asked:

"Well then, what's the problem?"

"Well...Dad said...you know, you have to ask a father's permission to marry his daughter..."

"Oh Merlin, you didn't...!"

"No! Of course I didn't, Mum! I'm not an idiot!"

"Could've fooled me, Ted!" a voice from the doorway called cheerfully, and Teddy turned to offer his godfather a faint smile as Harry Potter stepped into the kitchen. "Are you two coming out?" the Head of Aurors asked as he crossed the kitchen in order to retrieve a biscuit barrel. "Remus is threatening to eat the last of the chocolate cake."

To Teddy's slight mortification, Dora reached to sling an arm around him again as she announced:

"Actually, Harry, we're in the middle of discussing a major dilemma!"

"Yeah? What sort of dilemma is that, then? Besides a major one." Harry asked, pulling off the lid of the biscuit barrel and extracting a chocolate chip cookie.

"Carrie's dad's more than a few twigs short of a broomstick these days." Dora reminded him, causing him to offer her a raised eyebrow. "I don't know if you've ever stuck your head round the door at Mungo's, but he's in a pretty bad way."

"Right...?"

"He's not really up for giving Ted permission to marry his daughter. He thinks she's still a child..."

Harry spat crumbs down the front of his jumper, very nearly choking.

"You're going to ask Carrie to marry you?" he attempted to clarify, grinning broadly, only for Dora to snap:

"Harry! Concentrate for Merlin's sake! This is important to him."

"Right, yeah..."

"Since he's his father's son right to the core and is going to insist on doing things properly, what do you reckon he should do about asking permission?"

Harry attempted a second bite of cookie, frowning deeply.

"She's got a brother, right?"

"Two of them." Teddy mumbled, feeling quite nervous at what he thought might be coming next.

"Right then, pick the older one of them..."

"They're twins."

"Rather you than me, then! If you can't ask her dad for permission you could ask her brothers instead. I asked Ron before I asked Arthur, you know..."

"There you have it, then!" Dora concluded, patting Teddy reassuringly on the shoulder. "Ask Thomas and Timothy instead!"

Teddy suddenly didn't feel much up for eating chocolate cake.

Thomas and Timothy Winters, Carrie's twenty three year old brothers, had not had a whole lot to do with Teddy over the years. They had always been friendly towards him back when they had lived with Carrie and their parents next door to the Lupins, but since their parents' admission to St. Mungo's Teddy had only seen them on very rare occasions, such as on Carrie's birthday. The twins had never been to visit their parents at the hospital on account of their lack of awareness of the magical world. Under the impression that their parents had suffered brain damage after a terrible car accident, they very conveniently and persistently forgot to visit their parents at "that care home", the name of which also usually slipped their minds. Teddy was not entirely sure what the Ministry's Obliviators had done to make them both so forgetful, but on the rare occasion that Carrie did suggest Thomas and TImothy go with her for a visit, Mr. and Mrs. Winters would find themselves on a day trip out of their ward and off to a secluded little house in the countryside. Here, the twins would see their parents in a distinctly muggle-like environment. Both Teddy and Dora had been on hand on a couple of occasions to morph into the make-shift care home's care workers.

Whilst Carrie had stayed with her Aunt Susan in Eddington after her parents' hospitalisation, Thomas and Timothy had gone to live with their cousins in the neighbouring town of Moorbrook. Thick as thieves as seemed to be customary for twins, they had moved into a flat in Moorbrook a couple of years previously and, between Thomas' work as a policeman and Timothy's job in the fire service, they seemed to Teddy to busy themselves with football matches, trips to the gym and evenings down the pub.

In short, Teddy wasn't sure he had a great deal in common with them.

One thing that the three young men did have in common, however, was their fondness for Carrie. Whilst away at University Carrie would exchange frequent emails and messages with her brothers, indeed she seemed to have more contact with them now that they no longer lived together, and they would often invite her round to dinner at their flat. According to Carrie this usually consisted of a takeaway, unless she offered to do the cooking herself.

_They're typical boys_, she would grumble to Teddy once she had arrived back from Moorbrook, and Teddy had to agree that this was certainly true.

Of the two, Thomas was by far the noisier twin. He had a wicked sense of humour and was confident to the point of being arrogant. Carrie seemed to think that he had a different girlfriend every week, indeed girlfriend probably wasn't the right word to describe them. Carrie usually referred to them as _conquests_.

Timothy, on the other hand, tended to be a little calmer and generally rather quiet. He had been dating a girl named Jenny for several years, something that Carrie strongly disapproved of because, she said, Jenny was _a bit of a tart_. She was very similar to Thomas' countless girlfriends, with the exception that for some strange reason Timothy seemed inclined to hang on to her.

Despite their poor choice in women and distinctly laddish behaviour, the twins were always kind and caring towards their sister, lending her money should her student loan run out and offering to drive her places since she did not own a car.

It was important, therefore, that when asking them if they would mind if he married their darling sister, Teddy didn't get it wrong.

The notion made him feel queasy.

But Teddy did not have much time to worry, if he was going to ask them before Carrie arrived back in Eddington. Or indeed if he was going to ask them before his nerves got the better of him.

He apparated to the outskirts of Moorbrook that very afternoon and walked into the middle of town, hoping the walk might give him time to formulate some sort of plan.

He wished he'd asked Remus precisely what he had said to Ted, or what Harry had said to both Ron and Arthur. He thought about Harry's daughter Lily, how of all his female almost-cousins she was probably the one he most thought of as a sister because she had always been rather clingy towards him as a child, and because the Potter children spent more time at the Lupins' house than the Weasley children did. He tried to imagine somebody wanting to marry her, what it was he would want to hear from them...

He tried not to imagine that nobody would ever be good enough for her. Because that was what brothers always thought, wasn't it?

Teddy was beginning to feel rather sick. But before he knew it he found himself approaching Moorbrook High Street, where he turned left into a large, concrete slabbed driveway that led up to the small block of flats where Thomas and Timothy lived on the top floor. For a moment, once he had reached the front door, he simply stood, staring at the intercom upon the wall, daring himself to press the button...

Face contorting apprehensively, the wizard gritted his teeth and reached to jab a finger at the button. And then he waited.

After a while there came a series of muffled giggling noises before a woman's voice said:

"H...hello?"

"Um...hi..." Teddy mumbled rather uncertainly into the speaker. "Are...are Thomas and Timothy home at all?"

"They might be!" the woman's voice giggled, only for a voice in the background to snap:

"Gina! Give me the bloody phone!" There came the sound of more scrambled movement and another high pitched giggle before a breathless voice asked: "Hello? Who's there?"

"Thomas...?"

"Yes?"

"It's Teddy."

"Oh...hi! Hi, Teddy...oh _shit_...shit, she's not home already, is she? Bloody hell..."

"Carrie? No, Carrie isn't home yet. It's just me on my own."

"Oh! Oh, right...well then, you'd better come in...just a second..." There was more movement before Teddy just about heard Thomas hiss: "It's my little sister's boyfriend! Quick, go and put some bloody clothes on for goodness sake!"

Teddy grimaced.

"Thomas? Is...is Timothy home, too?" he asked, and as yet more giggling faded into the background, Thomas said:

"Um...he's still in bed, I think. Here, you can come up!" And with that, the door to the block of flats clicked open.

No sooner had Teddy reached the top of the final flight of stairs, the door to the flat had been wrenched open and a scantily clad young woman with bleached blonde hair and distinctly ruffled clothes came stumbling out onto the landing, looking somewhat disgruntled as Thomas Winters appeared behind her, smiling broadly.

"Well, it was nice to see you!" he called hastily as the girl shot him a scowl over her shoulder as she shrugged a jacket on around her shoulders. "I'll call you!"

"No you won't!" the blonde retorted, no longer giggly in the slightest, and with that she stomped off down the stairs, pushing her way past Teddy as she went.

Thomas let out a heavy sigh, offering Teddy a distinctly embarrassed smile.

"Girls, eh?" he chuckled as Teddy shuffled up the last few steps and across the small landing. "They're a nightmare, aren't they? You just ask Timothy...! No wonder he hasn't left his bed all day! Come in, come in! D'you want a cup of tea or something? There's beer in the fridge..."

"Um...tea would be great, thanks." Teddy mumbled as he stepped across the threshold, and Thomas headed down the narrow hallway towards the kitchen, pausing by a closed door to hammer a fist upon it.

"Oi, Tim!" he bellowed as Teddy reached to close the front door behind him. "Look sharp, mate! Carrie's sent a spy to check up on us!"

Timothy seemingly made no response, and his twin banged one last fist against the wood before setting off for the kitchen.

"Is he unwell?" Teddy asked, glancing curiously at the bedroom door as he passed, and as Thomas extracted a trio of mugs from the draining board, pausing to try to smooth the creases from his t shirt, he shook his head.

"Nope. Depressed, maybe. But not unwell. In fact I reckon he's better off than he was before! Now that stupid cow's out of the picture!"

"What happened?"

"We had a party last night, invited some people over, few mates and a girl or two. We used Tim's bedroom to dump everybody's coats. About midnight Tim went to fetch some coats for some girls who were going home, and there's Jenny with our mate Mitch in Tim's bed! At it like bloody rabbits!"

"Bloody hell," Teddy mumbled, going to lean back against the cupboards in an attempt to look casual. "That's awful!"

"It's not the first time, either. She shagged some random guy she met down the pub a few months ago! Tim found out then, too. But he decided to let it go."

"Why?"

"Because my brother is an idiot, that's why! They're all the same, women. They're all bloody awful."

"What...all of them?"

As he set about filling the kettle with water, Thomas glanced over his shoulder at the wizard, expression distinctly amused.

"Probably not, no. But then again I wouldn't know. I don't really mind awful women!" Turning to slot the kettle into place, flicking the switch to set it to boil, he suggested: "Perhaps you could enlighten me, though. How is my perfect angel of a sister? You won't tell her about Jenny, will you? She'll be over here quick as a flash and it'll be all _I told you so! I told you she's a slut! You can do better, Timothy, and so could you, Thomas! How many girlfriends have you had this month? What's wrong with you?_" Sniggering at his high-pitched imitation he dropped a trio of teabags into their respective mugs as admitted: "Heart of gold, my sister. We love her to death and she means well, but she's a bloody pain in the arse sometimes! We don't need a replacement mother, you know! We're too old to be nagged like that!"

"She's...a traditionalist." Teddy theorised, and Thomas nodded vigorous agreement.

"Exactly! She's like our mother. You find a nice girl, date her a few years, marry her, have children...she's not wrong, either. I get it. I get the whole thing, I do, I just...I don't know, I like being single and carefree! Unlike Timothy...looks like he hates it, eh?"

Teddy gave a vague chuckle.

"Yep, looks like it..."

"D'you fancy a biscuit or something?" Thomas asked cheerfully, reached to pull the biscuit barrel towards him so that he could eye the contents, frowning deeply. "There's...a couple of stale custard creams and half a jammy dodger..."

"Um...no thanks..."

"I don't blame you, they look disgusting. One of these days I'm going to have to go shopping! Carrie'll probably drag me off to Tesco's the second she sees the state of our cupboards."

Once Thomas had made the tea and they had wandered into the sitting room, where Teddy had managed to find a space on the sofa that wasn't covered in discarded crisp packets and magazines, Thomas had busied himself with dumping a few cushions on the floor in order that he could sit down in an armchair, and once they had both taken a few sips of their mugs of tea, Thomas had finally uttered the immortal words:

"I've not seen you since before last Christmas, Ted! What's the occasion?"

Teddy felt his mouth go dry. He hastily took another sip of tea, but it didn't seem to make any difference.

"Um..." He was shifting his feet rather nervously. He tried his best to keep still. "I...I just wanted to...to ask you something. You and Timothy, I mean."

"Sure," Thomas grinned, leaning to set his mug down upon the carpet. "I'll go and drag Timothy out of bed, shall I? I won't be a second..."

As one twin disappeared back out into the hallway in order to find another, Teddy wondered if now was really a good time to be asking them about his plans to marry their sister. After all, the last thing Timothy needed after the previous night was Teddy coming along and rubbing his nose in it...

What if it all went badly? They were always very friendly to him, but Teddy was still convinced they, like so many of Carrie's muggle relations and friends, thought him a little odd, and he was so very different from them that perhaps they might not approve of him at all...

But then again, Carrie was very different from them, too. They had been mischievous as children, whilst their sister had always been immaculately behaved, and after their separation the twins had been raised amongst their rowdy cousins by their Uncle Daniel and Aunt Donna, who, unlike their workaholic Aunt Susan who had been left in charge of Carrie, were too busy throwing parties to bother much with discipline and rules. In fact Carrie and the twins were so very different that sometimes, were it not for how alike they looked, it was difficult to believe that they were siblings at all.

It would be fine, Teddy told himself resolutely. It would be absolutely fine...

And yet a few minutes later when Thomas reappeared in the sitting room with a dressing gown-clad Timothy in tow, Teddy still wasn't quite sure. He vaguely wondered how much trouble he would be in with the Ministry if his nerves truly did get the better of him and he resorted to apparating himself out of there...

"Hello Teddy." Timothy greeted, managing to offer his visitor a half-hearted smile, and Teddy was sure his smile in return was equally as feeble.

"Hi Timothy...how're you?"

He hadn't really meant to ask that. It had sort of just slipped out, the politeness that his parents had drilled into him as a child had become a reflex action. For once this was something that Teddy rather regretted.

"I think I've been better, to be honest." Timothy admitted glumly, only for his brother to snap:

"Cheer up, mate! There are plenty more fish in the sea! Isn't that right, Ted?"

Before Teddy could answer, Timothy had shot his brother a scowl.

"We're not all like you, Thom. We're not all bloody Casonovas! Some of us have to...have to work at it..."

"There's nothing wrong with having to work at it." Teddy pointed out, before regretting speaking all together because they both turned to look at him. "I mean...if it's no effort then...then you won't appreciate what it is that you have."

"Bet Carrie's hard work!" Thomas sniggered, only for Timothy to add:

"But she's easy to appreciate, isn't she Thomas? When she comes over here during the holidays and irons your shirts for work so you don't show up there looking like a tramp."

"God," Thomas muttered, face contorting irritably. "You really have lost your sense of humour!"

"Well that's alright," Teddy blurted, determined to get the whole dreadful talk over and done with before the twins could start arguing properly. "Because I want to ask you something and...and it's not a joke, it's serious."

"What's it about?" Timothy asked as Thomas took a generous gulp of his tea, and Teddy had to pause to draw in a deep breath.

"It's...it's about Carrie."

"Oh?" Thomas reached to set his mug down, leaning forwards in his chair. The movement very nearly made Teddy flinch. "What about her?"

"Um...well...um..."

"Go on, Ted! Spit it out."

"It's um...it's a bit...difficult..."

"Bloody hell!" Thomas leant forwards even more, his eyes upon the wizard narrowing as beside him Timothy promptly turned to scowl at the side of Thomas' head, apparently guessing what was coming next. "She's not bloody pregnant or something, is she? Because if she is, you know, we're going to have to beat the crap out of you..."

"Thom, shut up!" Timothy snapped, and Teddy let out a nervous little laugh.

"No, no she's not. Definitely not. And...and if she was you wouldn't need to bother...my mum would've beaten the crap out of me already."

"Well that's true," Thomas grinned, leaning back in his chair, apparently rather relieved. "Bloody hell, imagine having to tell your mum that!"

"Yeah...ha..."

"How is she, your mum? She and your dad doing alright, are they?"

Teddy very nearly huffed at the change of subject, but he forced himself to lean back casually in his chair and inform them:

"They're both fine."

"She still doing that...that Super Hero job of hers? That's what Carrie used to call it..."

"Yeah, she's still doing...that. She works a lot of overtime."

"And your dad?"

"He...doesn't work quite as much."

"Good man!"

"Ha..."

As the trailed off into silence, Teddy pursed his lips together for a long moment, willing himself to say something...

"The thing is," he mumbled, only to start again in an attempt to speak more clearly. "The thing is, Thomas...Timothy...I thought now would be a good time to come round and talk to you both about...about something important. And...and well...well Carrie and I have been together for...for..."

"Forever." Timothy supplied, offering the wizard a raised eyebrow, ignoring the snort of amusement from his twin brother.

"Exactly. It's been four years...longer if you count how long we've actually known each other, I mean we've known one another for a decade! That's a really, really long time...that's almost half my life..."

Thomas groaned, reaching to run a hand across his eyes, causing Timothy to instantly scowl again.

"You're not planning on dumping her, are you? Because we're not going to pussy foot around and try and make you look like less of a bastard just because you gave us some warning..."

"No, it's not like that...not at all..."

"...we'd have to beat the crap out of you, you know..."

"It's not like that. It's the exact opposite..."

"...I'd have to break your legs or something..."

"Thom shut up! He's not bloody dumping her, for goodness sake!"

"Alright, alright! I'm just saying! She's our little sister, we look out for her! Shirts don't iron themselves, do they?"

Neither Teddy nor Timothy laughed. Instead, Timothy leant forward in his chair, his expression deadly serious.

"Go on, Ted." he suggested, glancing sideways to offer Thomas such a warning look that his brother seemingly sobered and fixed an identical expression onto his face.

"Right..." Teddy mumbled, drawing in a deep breath and sitting a little straighter in his seat. "I...I just wanted to tell you that I'm so very, very glad that your parents decided to move to Eddington all those years ago, I'm so glad you all moved in next door and I met Carrie because...because she's the best friend I've ever had and...and I honestly do love her with...with all my heart. She makes me feel so happy whenever I'm with her and I miss her so awfully whilst she is away. I think we make a good team, Carrie and I. We're good for one another. I honestly can't imagine what I would do if she were to leave me or move away for good...I don't think I could stand it...I don't think my parents could stand it, either. She's like a daughter to them, she really is. My mum...she lost a baby, you know. She always said it was a little girl. When I was twelve she had an accident whilst pregnant and she miscarried...and everybody said she and Dad were so...so strong and wasn't it admirable how well they took it! But the truth is they weren't really that strong, they just had help. They had Carrie, their daughter who wasn't quite theirs. So you see, we all love Carrie, we all love having her as part of our family. And I...I want it to always be that way. I want Carrie to always be there with me, and I want her to know that's the way I feel, that I'll stick by her as long as I live. So...so I was wondering if...well...I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if...if..." He paused in an attempt to steady his nerves, to clasp together his trembling hands in an attempt to stop them from shaking as he looked each brother squarely in the eye in turn before telling them: "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I asked your sister to marry me."

Silence.

They were staring at him in silence, their expressions both frozen, no trace of their thoughts visible. It made Teddy want to squirm. He wished one of them would say something, and when they didn't, he decided to break the silence himself.

"It would mean a great deal to me if you gave me your blessings." he explained, trying his very best to keep his gaze away from his shoes, for as his father had taught him from an early age, a man was nothing if he could not hold his head high. "I'm sure it would mean a lot to Carrie, too. In fact it would mean a lot to the whole family, I very much doubt I'd get my dad's blessing if I didn't get yours first. Because this is all about family, isn't it? About being...being a strong and solid family...like...like you and Carrie are already. That's how you...how you all have managed since your parents were taken ill, isn't it? By being a strong family unit. That's what...what I really want..."

More silence.

Teddy was having trouble deciding whether or not things were going well or not. He was beginning to edge towards Not.

At this thought, he immediately began to panic.

"But...but most of all," he babbled, feeling his cheeks growing steadily redder, "it's about Carrie, really. About Carrie and I. And...and if you don't approve...or if anybody doesn't approve then...then that's very sad and I'm sorry to hear it...but...but it wouldn't change how I feel about her, so...so..."

"I'd stop there before you say something stupid." Thomas suggested, and Teddy felt rather as if he had been punched in the stomach. There was a horrible sinking sensation in his chest, before Carrie's brothers exchanged a brief glance and Thomas informed him: "It means a lot to us, you know. That you've bothered to come and ask."

Teddy managed a tiny, terrified nod, only for relief to flood over him when Timothy told him:

"I'd love for you to marry my sister, Teddy. I honestly couldn't imagine her marrying anybody else."

"Me neither." Thomas agreed as Teddy sunk back into his chair, not bothering to suppress a huge sigh of relief. "You've always been very good to her. You're pretty young, though..."

"They don't have to get married tomorrow." Timothy reasoned, offering the young man a smile. "They can save up a bit first, do it properly! Buy themselves a place to live for after the wedding, that sort of thing..."

"I've got savings." Teddy said, feeling rather proud of himself. "I've been working a while now...I've been doing extra hours so I can buy a ring!"

Thomas gave a low whistle, cracking a broad grin.

"He means business, Tim." he observed, and his brother agreed quietly:

"He certainly does."

They were right. Teddy certainly did mean business. By the time he arrived home that evening, having taken a brisk walk halfway home in an attempt to order the rush of excited thoughts and ideas that had flooded his mind once the twins had offered him their support, he had very nearly formulated a clear plan.

Dora, fresh home from Diagon Alley, was midway through shrugging off her cloak in the hallway when Teddy bounded through the front door, and as he set about kicking off his shoes, the witch asked:

"How'd it go, Sweetheart?"

"Thomas threatened to beat me up." Teddy recalled, giving up on kicking off his second shoe and resorting to yanking it free with one hand. "Twice."

"He did?"

"Yep! He told me he was going to break my legs!"

As she too leant down to pull the boots from her feet, the Deputy Head of Aurors observed dryly:

"Sounds like it was a roaring success, then!"

"It was!" Teddy exclaimed, hair brightening to an even more vivid shade of turquoise, and with that he bolted up the stairs towards his bedroom, calling back over his shoulder: "I'll tell you about it later!"

And so it was that Teddy dug out his list from the bottom of his sock drawer in order to give his next move some serious thought. It was not until dinner time that he marched purposefully back downstairs and into the kitchen, where his father was busy ladling soup into a trio of bowls and his mother was sat at the table examining a copy of the Evening Prophet.

"Mum?"

"Hm?"

"I need to borrow your engagement ring."

Dora looked up from a frowning examination of an article on Ministry cutbacks to offer her son a questioning look.

"I thought you were saving up for one, love."

"I am! I'm going to take Carrie to Diagon Alley so she can pick one herself."

"Ah, I see."

"Because I don't want to propose to her with that ring, I want to propose to her with your ring."

"Why would you want to do that?" Remus wondered as he carefully levitated the steaming bowls over to the table and Dora was forced to fold up the newspaper and toss it down onto the floor beside her.

"Because!" Teddy exclaimed, as if it were all terribly obvious, "If she marries me Carrie'll be part of our family for real at last! That's what she's always wanted, that's what we want, isn't it? You want her to be one of us, don't you?"

"Of course we do, love." Dora agreed, leaning back in her chair to accept the spoon Remus was dangling just above her head, and as he dropped down into the chair opposite her, Teddy asked:

"Well then it would be perfect, wouldn't it? Proposing to her with your ring that Dad gave you, so she knows you two want her to be a proper family member!"

"So...what you're actually saying," Dora murmured through a mouthful of soup-soaked bread, "is that this is actually some sort of _group_ proposal..."

"No, Mum! Well...well yes, sort of! It's important, isn't it? To Carrie, I mean. It's important that you two approve and that she's accepted because it's difficult...her being...you know, a muggle and everything."

"Merlin...I hadn't really thought of that..." Dora muttered, pausing in her chewing to frown deeply. "What are we supposed to do, Remus? You know, about...about Carrie being a muggle..."

"What are you talking about?" Teddy asked, eyes widening rather worriedly. "Carrie being a muggle doesn't matter, does it? It's...it's never mattered..."

"It matters a whole lot!" Dora retorted, sighing heavily as Remus sat down beside her.

"Why?"

"Because, Teddy love! Muggles are a pain in the arse!"

"Dora," Remus murmured, fighting against a grin at the look of confused fury that instantly dawned upon his son's face. "Be quiet and give him the ring, for Merlin's sake."

"What was that supposed to mean?" Teddy asked as Dora sniggered into her soup, and Remus shot the witch a frown.

"It doesn't mean anything, Ted. Don't worry about it." the werewolf said, offering the young wizard a smile. "Your mother would be utterly delighted to lend you her ring..._wouldn't you_, Dora?"

"What?" Dora blinked and looked up from her bowl to find Teddy staring at her expectantly. "Oh, right! Right, yeah, of course love! Of course you can borrow it! Here...keep it safe, won't you? Don't lose it, it's priceless to me..."

As he reached to accept the delicate band of gold, the single, modest diamond glittering in the light, Teddy endeavoured:

"I'll guard it with my life, Mum."

"You had better," Remus told him, raising an eyebrow. "She'll kill you if you lose it...Carrie would make an awfully young widow!"

As Teddy tucked the ring safely into his pocket, both parents stared at him for a long moment, Dora squirming in her chair.

"Merlin...imagine, Remus...our little boy...getting engaged...!"

"It's quite something, isn't it?"

"It's...it's scary! I'm not sure I'm old enough, you know, to be a mother-in-law and all that because, you know...what happens after that...after marriage...grandchi..."

"Mum!"

"I'm just saying! After Dad and I got married I fell pregnant within weeks...days I reckon! That's only nine months later and you were born! Don't you dare do that to me, Teddy Lupin! I'm too bloody young to be a grandmother!"

"I think you're getting way ahead of yourself." Remus said, much to Teddy's relief, and Dora sighed dramatically before agreeing:

"You're right, Remus. We've got other problems to sort out first...like what to do about _muggles_..."

Teddy was just about to open his mouth to complain again, only for Remus to elaborate:

"Well Lily was a muggle born, there were loads of muggles at her and James' wedding. It was fine, everybody came in suits instead of dress robes and they had a muggle service in a church..."

Quite suddenly Teddy found that Dora's grumbling had made perfect sense.

"But Carrie wouldn't want a muggle wedding, she'd want a magical one." He said, at last getting round to taking a sip of his soup.

"Well obviously you can have both...you can go to the Ministry and they'll do the magical ceremony in one of their offices."

"No, she'd want a proper magical wedding, like when you had your blessing for your anniversary the other year!"

"But her family couldn't come. Why would she want that?"

"Can't we do it the other way around? A big magical ceremony and then...the muggle bit in an office with her family or...or something?"

"I have no idea, Teddy love. I've never married a muggle. Don't worry about it now though, eh? If Dad and I managed to tie the knot in the middle of a war whilst marriage to werewolves was illegal, what's so tricky about marrying a muggle?"

It was proposing to a muggle that Teddy was particularly concerned with just then, however, and he found himself faced with yet another problem when, the evening before Carrie was due home from University, he took a stroll down the road and round the corner, where he found his plan in sudden ruins...

And so it was that Remus found himself disturbed during his evening shower by frantic knocking on the bathroom door, accompanied by a shout of:

"DAD! DAD!"

"For Merlin's sake, Ted, I'm in the shower!"

"But Dad! It's gone!"

"What's gone?"

"The swing! Somebody's taken it down! It's gone! You have to come! Now!"

With a heavy sigh of resignation, Remus reached to stem the spray of hot water. As he threw back the shower curtain and fumbled around for a dry towel, he wondered:

"You're honestly getting me out of the shower...because somebody's...somebody's _taken an old swing down from off a tree up the road_..."

"It's not just _a_ swing, Dad! It's OUR swing! Hurry up, I need your help!"

A glance in the steamy mirror confirmed Remus' suspicions that he still had soap in his hair, and as he stooped at the sink in a vain attempt to wash it away, shivering at the sudden cold water trickling down his neck, the werewolf asked:

"What precisely do you want me to do about it, Ted?"

"I want you to help me put up a new one!" came the impatient response, and Remus very nearly cracked his head on the tap as he straightened up.

"Theodore, it's almost eleven o'clock at night..."

"Exactly! Carrie'll be home in the morning, we don't have much time! Last time I tried to help Harry build Lily that playhouse I almost cut my own hand off!"

"Merlin, give me strength..." Remus muttered as out on the landing Dora stuck her head out from around their bedroom door, expression distinctly unimpressed.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" the Auror asked wearily. "I've got work in the morning, I'm trying to sleep, Ted!"

"Sorry, Mum."

"Remus? Are you coming to bed or not? It's getting late..."

"Not."

"What?"

"I'm not coming to bed. Apparently I've got to _build a swing_ and hang it from a tree on the green up the road!"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about? It's eleven o'clock at night, it's pitch black out there! For the love of Merlin get out of that shower and come to bed!"

As soon as the bathroom door had opened and Remus had stepped out onto the landing, pulling the cord of his dressing gown tight, Teddy hurriedly stepped to block the bedroom doorway, expression pleading.

"Please, Dad! Help me, it's really, really important!"

"Ted...we'd need wood for the seat and...rope! Where in Merlin's name am I going to find a length of rope at this time of night..."

"I don't know! Use your imagination!"

"Bloody hell," Dora grumbled, eying the back of her son's head with a deep frown. "Try and keep the noise down, won't you? Some of us are trying to catch forty winks here!"

"I won't be long." Remus told her, but she merely gave a disbelieving snort and reached to push the door shut again. For a long moment the werewolf simply stood, rubbing a resigned hand across his eyes before he sighed heavily and instructed: "Go up to the attic room...there's a trunk in the corner by the window..."

"The big green one with the broken lock?"

"That's the one. Somewhere in there there's some...some lengths of cord...from that tent of yours we used to pitch in the back garden when you were younger."

"That's not going to be strong enough to hold a swing! And what about the seat? What..."

"Just do it, Theodore."

By the time Teddy had picked his way through the clutter of the attic room and tried to quietly rummage through the dusty old trunk in an attempt not to disturb the owls, he arrived back down on the first floor landing along with his findings just in time to hear a loud banging noise from downstairs that made him jump.

"REMUS?" his mother's voice bellowed from the master bedroom. "What in Merlin's name are you doing down there?"

"Nothing!"

"Doesn't sound like nothing!"

"Just go to sleep, darling!"

Teddy hurried downstairs and along the hallway into the kitchen, where he promptly came to a stunned halt in the doorway, dropping the cord to the floor in surprise.

"What are you doing?" he cried, eyes wide in shock at the sight of the collapsed remains of one of the kitchen chairs that his father was busy rearranging. "Mum's going to kill you!"

"She won't have time to kill me, she'll be too busy getting ready for work." Remus muttered, picking up the remainders of the chair's seat and setting it down upon the table, pushing the rest of the debris a little gingerly out of the way. "And by the time she gets home, you will have brought back the swing and she'll find the kitchen exactly the way it's supposed to be." He glanced round to shoot Teddy such a stern look that the young wizard was quite convinced that should he fail to do precisely this he might very well land himself in some terribly hot water indeed.

"Cool..." he mumbled rather uncertainly, only for Remus to instruct briskly:

"Go and fetch the toolbox from under the stairs."

It took Teddy some minutes to push aside all of the potion ingredients, glass vials and the rest of the cupboard's contents before he could reach the small, dusty toolbox in the back corner. By the time he had managed to prise it out from behind the mop and bucket and heaved it into the kitchen, his father had already set about examining the cord Teddy had retrieved from the trunk upstairs.

"There's not a chance that'll hold a person's weight." Teddy told the werewolf as he deposited the toolbox at Remus' feet with a hefty thud, and Remus sighed heavily, shaking his head.

"Merlin help me," he murmured, pausing to stifle a yawn into the sleeve of his dressing gown, "I raise you for over two decades and you still end up an idiot!" Before Teddy could make any sort of indignant response, the werewolf asked: "What precisely is the point of being a wizard, Theodore, if you're going to look at the world with an attitude like that? You ought have been born a Squib!" Reaching down to open the toolbox, he extracted a hammer and a box of large and rather lethal looking nails, thrusting them into his son's hands. "Four nails," he instructed, "one here, one here, and the same on the other side. Then attach the cord around the nails so we can hang the seat. Alright?"

"Alright..." Teddy mumbled, eying the nails rather apprehensively. "What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to read some books."

"Why?"

"We'll be needing a strengthening charm or two for that cord."

Later, whilst the rest of Eddington slept soundly in their beds, at gone one o'clock in the morning, whilst the world outside was dark and rain spat sporadically from the clouds in the sky, two figures appeared on the green round the corner from the Lupin house, and one set about climbing a tree, an act which he seemed to find somewhat tricky. So tricky, in fact, that no sooner had he managed to swing a leg up towards his desired perch, he promptly lost his grip against the trunk and, with a muttered curse, fell back to the ground with a distinctly painful sounding crunch.

As he watched his son's face contort in pain as he rolled onto his side, reaching to cradle one arm to his chest, Remus Lupin wondered aloud:

"Perhaps we ought come back in the morning, when it's light..."

Teddy simply let out a low moan of pain. His father consented to taking a step forwards to peer down at him in consideration.

"Merlin..." the werewolf murmured, dropping down into a crouch. "Are you alright?"

"My wrist...!" Teddy groaned through gritted teeth.

"Can you move it?"

"I don't know..."

"Let me see it."

"Dad...OUCH!"

After giving the promptly swelling joint a non too gentle prod or two, Remus gave a sigh of resignation.

"Congratulations, Theodore. That looks distinctly broken to me! Your mother shall be terribly proud..."

"It's not funny, Dad!"

"It certainly isn't, no. Come, get up. We'll have to wake your mother up and have her look at it. She has a far better eye for healing magic than me...she'd need to, with a track record like hers..."

"What about the swing?"

"What about it? I'm not climbing up there after your stunt, thank you very much."

"But I need it!"

"Let's see what your mother has to say, first. If she bundles you into the floo for Mungo's you'll have to put off proposing for a day at least. Don't look so sour, Ted! What's the rush?"

As he allowed Remus to help him stiffly back onto his feet, frowning deeply as his body throbbed in protest, Teddy sighed irritably.

"I don't know..." he muttered as Remus set about leading him across the green and back towards the house, the makeshift swing held under one arm. "I just...I just want to do it. I've been waiting for so long and I...I feel as if...as if I can't wait any longer! If I do I might just...burst!"

"I wouldn't recommend doing that. A broken wrist is perfectly bad enough, I think."

As they reached the corner and turned onto their street, Teddy still cradling his arm to his chest, the young wizard observed:

"You think I'm silly."

"On the contrary," Remus told him, one hand upon the metamorphmagus' elbow. "I think you're very wise."

"You do?"

"Yes. There are some things in life, Teddy, for which we must rely upon gut instinct. And love is certainly one of them. If you think tomorrow is the right time to propose to Carrie, you should do it."

"Do you think that's why you said what you did that time, when you and Mum were in Grandma Molly's kitchen? When you told her you wanted to marry her, was that because...because your gut instinct told you to do it?"

Remus' pace faltered a little as he let out a loud chuckle.

"Good grief, no! No, Ted. No, that wasn't my gut instinct, not at all. That was just sheer lunacy!"

Teddy found himself deposited in the sitting room whilst Remus went upstairs to rouse Dora, a job that Teddy was more than happy not to do himself. The Deputy Head of Aurors arrived in the sitting room a few minutes later, swathed in her dressing gown, her expression distinctly unamused to say the least.

"Why didn't you take a bloody broom or something?" she was midway through snapping at her husband, who very wisely chose not to answer. Striding briskly across the room to where Teddy was sat upon the sofa, she brandished her wand in a vaguely threatening manner and demanded to know: "Well, which one is it?"

"This one." Teddy murmured apprehensively, nodding to the limb in question which he found himself moving a little closer to his chest, only for Dora to tell him:

"Don't be such a wimp!" And with that she reached forward to grasp hold of his forearm.

Teddy winced in anticipation, only for her examination to be more careful and gentle than Remus' by far. The witch _hmmm_ed in a distinctly worried manner which made Teddy's throat go a little dry, before she murmured:

"Fetch a fresh pot of floo powder, will you Remus love?"

As Remus rose to his feet and made for the cupboard under the stairs, Teddy slumped back in his seat with a groan of protest.

"But Mum...!"

"But Mum nothing, Sweetheart. It's a nasty break, I can't heal it! You'll be in and out of Mungo's within an hour or two..."

"But...but Carrie's coming home in the morning!"

"I don't care. You go to Mungo's, they fix your wrist, you come home and go straight to bed..."

"M-um! I'm twenty one years old! You can't tell me..."

"I'll tell you whatever I like, Ted. I'll tell you something else, too, Dad'll be exhausted come the morning and d'you know what? He'll sleep through my alarm clock and he's sure to be extremely late apparating over to the University to pick Carrie and the rest of her stuff up! How's that for a bit extra time? Now go on, get into that fireplace!"

The waiting room at St. Mungo's hospital was, despite the late hour, irritatingly busy. It took Teddy some ten minutes to reach the front of the long queue at the Welcome Desk, and by the time he got there the smiling elderly witch behind the desk made him want to scowl.

"Hello there, dear, what can I do for you?" the welcome witch asked, unfathomably cheery, and Teddy, cradling his arm to his chest, grunted:

"I've broken my wrist."

"Oh dear! Can I have a name for our records?"

"Theodore Lupin."

To Teddy's annoyance the witch looked up from her papers to beam at him, exclaimed:

"Ah! How are they?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your mother and father, how are they?"

_Inept_, Teddy thought sourly, _that's why I'm here..._

"They're very well, thank you."

"Your father was here to visit Mr and Mrs Longbottom not long ago. We had such a lovely chat!" As she fumbled with some papers and set about printing Teddy's name in a ledger in emerald green ink, the witch sighed heavily, shaking her head. "And of course I see your mother every once in a while...and every time I see either of them I just think of that awful, awful day...I always say to them, every single time, that I never should have pressed that panic button! Oh, it was awful! It was the most awful thing I've ever seen, in all my years...to think there is such evil in this world..."

"Should I take a seat?" Teddy wondered wearily, and the witch looked up at him as if she had quite forgotten he was there.

"Oh, yes! Yes dear, take a seat and Healer Dawes will come and collect you in just a minute!"

Just a minute turned out to be over an hour. It seemed to Teddy as if it were one of the longest hours of his entire life. It was longer than the agonizing wait on the morning of his seventh birthday, when his father had insisted he wait until his mother returned from a night shift before he could open his presents. It was longer than the hour he had spent in detention with Professor Binns in his fifth year after he and his friend Joshua had been caught throwing water balloons down into the school courtyards from atop the Astronomy Tower. It had even been longer than the nerve wrecking wait he had spent sat out in a corridor at the Ministry, waiting to be interviewed for his job in the Muggle Liason Office. He found himself thinking of the coming morning, of Carrie coming home at long last, and it made his stomach twist into knots.

Of course he was confident that she was going to say yes. He couldn't really imagine a scenario in which she turned him down...

But of course that made the possibility that she might do all the more daunting. As unlikely as it was, he had absolutely no idea what he would do if such a thing were to happen.

What if everything got terribly awkward and difficult and she thought he was rushing things and they ended up doing something dreadful like rowing or...or splitting up?

What if, when the big moment came, he forgot all those things his father had told him about being meaningful and simple and he just babbled at her until he made himself look quite silly? What if he got nervous and made a joke and she thought he wasn't taking the whole thing seriously enough?

And then there were the more long term worries; like what if he wasn't as ready as he thought he was to get married? What if marriage didn't turn out to be quite how he envisioned it, or he wasn't very good at it and Carrie found the whole thing dreadfully disappointing? What if he wasn't quite grown up enough to move out from his parents house and support himself...support Carrie?

He'd never given a whole lot of thought to moving into his own house before. It wasn't that he didn't consider himself to be an adult, it was simply not something that he was in any huge rush to do. He had been paying rent to his parents every month since starting his job at the Ministry, he did his share of the chores, he cooked dinner sometimes and he was slowly beginning to get the hang of the sort of things a young man ought know about. Remus had shown him how to fix the tap in the bathroom when it had been leaking, how to temporarily deactivate the fireplace from the floo network so that it could be cleaned without any nasty surprises, how to put up wallpaper in the hallway...

But Teddy could think of dozens of things that he didn't know about looking after a house and looking after oneself too. He had never understood how Remus made the creases from his freshly washed clothes disappear so entirely, or how Dora washed the clothes in the first place without sloshing water all over the place. He didn't understand exactly how to fill out the enormous leather bound ledgers his parents carefully wrote in every month to keep a close eye on their expenses, and he didn't know how to arrange to pay muggle household bills with wizarding money.

Teddy liked to think he knew quite a lot about marriage, about how important it was to be honest, about how crucial it was to share things, to stay in love and make an effort. He had learnt plenty of things from watching his parents and other married relatives over the course of his life.

And yet there were plenty of things Teddy was not in the least bit sure about. He wasn't entirely certain which were the things one was in actual fact not supposed to be entirely honest about when one was married, though his parents often joked that there were certainly times when lying was the order of the day. He didn't know precisely how to share out things like chores, how to do enough to be doting but not so much as to be stifling. He was nervous about what the precise differences were between being together and being married, how that might make being in love somehow different from how it was before. And how did one appear to make the effort and stay in love when, once married, it was all so expected that it rather lost it's sparkle?

Merlin, Teddy thought when at long last a door at the side of the waiting room opened and a wizard dressed in lime green healer's robes squinting down at a clipboard called out his name, what was he letting himself in for?

True to his mother's word, he stumbled back into the floo some ten minutes later, wrist throbbing and stiff but distinctly not broken, and headed straight for bed. The following morning, still sore and groggy, he staggered out of bed almost as soon as he became conscious of the water running in the bathroom as his mother got ready for work. True to Dora's word, Remus, though awake from what Teddy garnered from a brief glance around the bedroom door, made absolutely no effort at all to get out of bed on time, as was sure to be late meeting Carrie after breakfast. No sooner had he guzzled the remaining coffee that Dora had abandoned to grow luke warm upon the stove, Teddy had gone to fetch the swing from the hallway and, after a brief word to Remus about the werewolf's thoughts on strengthening charms, had headed off to the green for Round Two of his battle with the tree.

He scrambled up the tree, yanking out a leaf or two as he went, more out of bloody mindedness than anything else, only to be forced to sit up there for a long few minutes as a muggle pensioner walking his dog shuffled along the road at an infuriatingly slow pace. No sooner had the man rounded the corner and a glance up and down the road confirmed that nobody else was around, Teddy sent the swing's cords flying up into the air with a flick of his wand, and as he caught hold of them he wondered why on earth he had attempted all of this in the dark the first time around. Once the cord was looped securely around the tree, he jumped back to the ground and, once again checking he was not being watched, set about muttering the long list of spells that Remus had looked up the night beforehand. Once satisfied, he sat down gingerly upon the seat and gave it a test swing or two. When he did not find himself tumbling to the floor, he swung higher, letting out an unabashed whoop of triumph.

By the time Remus left the house to fetch Carrie back home, the swing had been modified with a thin coil of garden wire wrapped around each length of cord, between which Teddy had painstakingly slotted an array of conjured flowers until little if none of the cord was visible at all. Everything was set and ready, all that was left for Teddy to do was to stifle his nerves long enough to actually pop the question. He returned back to the house and sat at the bottom of the stairs, staring expectantly at the front door.

Remus and Carrie were taking an awfully long time.

It was making Teddy feel even more nervous.

They had probably gone straight to Carrie's Aunt Susan's flat to drop of the last of Carrie's belongings and Aunt Susan, being Aunt Susan, was probably fussing in the sort of mother-like way that she seemed so intent on now that Carrie didn't have much of a mother able to do that sort of thing herself...

He could hear gravel crunching on the driveway outside.

Teddy wondered whether to stand up or not, whether or not he really wanted to be caught hanging around by the door like some sort of lost puppy...

And then the lock clicked and the door was pushed open.

And there at long last was Carrie, dressed in a pale green floral dress he was pretty sure was new, and the tan coloured leather jacket her brother Thomas had bought her for her birthday the previous year. She miraculously appeared to have acquired a pair of dark pink slip on shoes that, last Teddy had checked, had lived somewhere in the bottom of Dora's wardrobe, and had donned a long string of matching beads around her neck.

Teddy wasn't entirely sure if it was normal for him to notice so much about what his girlfriend was wearing, but supposed it felt somehow important to remember, what with this being such an important moment in their lives...

She'd had a haircut since he had last seen her some week previously. Not much of one, just a trim, indeed Teddy felt rather proud that he had noticed. She was in the middle of laughing at whatever it was that Remus had just said, and when her gaze came to rest upon Teddy sat upon the stairs a broad grin broke out across her face as she greeted:

"Hi, Ted!"

Teddy simply stared at her.

As Carrie stared back at him, rather bemused by his apparent shock at the sight of her, Teddy was pretty certain that Remus coughing into his sleeve was in fact not a cough at all and more likely a badly suppressed snigger. His irritation with his father's amusement seemingly knocked some sense back into him, and Teddy got hurriedly to his feet.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, rushing forwards to throw his arms around her, and as her face became buried in his shoulder, the muggle wondered:

"Bit slow this morning, are we?"

"You have no idea." Remus murmured as he sidled past the pair of them, a little too quickly for Teddy to successfully scowl at him. "Your mother has managed to forget her purse this morning, Teddy." the werewolf informed his son meaningfully. "I expect she'll come back for it in a while...might stop for a cup of tea, even...say hello to Carrie..."

Teddy very nearly grimaced. He wanted to ask Remus when precisely sticking her nose into her son's love life had become more important to Dora than the running of Britain's Auror Department, but he didn't dare say a word.

"Shall we...go for a walk, Carrie?" he asked as Carrie drew back from him, about to reach to shrug off her jacket, only to pause.

"Oh! Alright then...while the sun's still out!"  
"Exactly."

Straightening her jacket, Carrie stepped past him towards Remus, smiling brightly.

"Thanks for brining me home!" she told the werewolf cheerily, giving him a brief one armed hug and rising up onto her toes to peck a kiss to his cheek.

"You're very welcome," Remus told her as he returned the gesture. "I'm sorry I was so late!"

"That's alright," Carrie told him, "Bethany needed help fitting her ridiculous shoe collection into her last suitcase, anyway! Did you know, Ted, she has about seven different pairs of trainers? Seven! That's one for every day of the week..."

As they walked up the road, hand in hand, chattering about her last week at University had how much she was no doubt going to miss her friends, but how pleased she was to be home at long last, Teddy found the entire conversation seemed to pass without him registering a single word. He was much too preoccupied thinking about the swing on the green around the corner, his mother's ring ring in his pocket...

The ring! It was in his pocket, wasn't it? Of course it was...

Just in case, he reached to slip a finger into the pocket of his trousers, probing around searchingly for the reassuring, cool band of gold...

Where was it?

He dug his hand down into the pocket, but his fingers met with nothing except the lining...

Oh Merlin...

Teddy stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Carrie asked, forehead crinkling in bemusement as she looked sideways at him, and Teddy opened and closed his mouth a few times before insisting:

"Don't...don't move a muscle! Not a single one! Alright?"

"Al...alright...why?"

"I'll be back in just a second! Promise you won't move!"

"I promise, but Ted what..."

"Excellent! Just a moment!"

Teddy sprinted back to the house, flinging the front door open with a flick of his wand and stumbling across the threshold in panic.

"DAD!"

"Ted? What's wrong?" Remus asked from somewhere in the sitting room, and Teddy's face contorted in horror as he exclaimed:

"Mum's ring!"

"What about it?"

"I've..." He stopped himself just short of _lost it_.

He couldn't possibly tell his father that he had lost his mother's engagement ring. He absolutely positively couldn't dare to do that...

"I forgot it!" he called instead, and with that he bolted upstairs, heart hammering in his chest in sheer panic. He searched frantically around his room, entirely clueless as to where he had mislaid the precious piece of jewellery and as the minutes ticked by he grew more and more panicked...

It was all ruined, it was all going to be ruined! And Dora was going to kill him, she was going to be utterly heartbroken...

It was then that he caught sight of the grass-stained jeans lying at the bottom of his bed where he had groggily abandoned them the night beforehand. Holding his breath he hurried to snatch them up, hand delving desperately into one pocket and then another...

At the touch of cool metal upon his fingertips, Teddy felt such relief wash over him that for a moment he sunk down onto his bed with an enormous sigh of relief. Slowly he extracted the ring from the pocket and held it aloft in silent triumph, watching the light reflect gloriously from the little diamond at it's top...

Then he remembered that Carrie was still waiting out in the street. He immediately pocketed the ring and bolted back downstairs and outside.

He found Carrie precisely where he had left her. She had apparently grown bored and was stood peering down at the screen of her mobile phone, pressing buttons at what looked to Teddy to be random, biting her lip a little in concentration. As soon as he came to a skidding, breathless halt at her side, however, she slipped the phone back into her pocket and offered him a raised eyebrow.

"Everything...better now?" she asked rather uncertainly, and he reached to tuck her hand into the crook of his arm and set on up the street again, relieved to admit:

"Absolutely!"

Had the road always been so long? Had the green always been such a long way away?

Teddy held his breath a little as they finally rounded the corner and the green came into view, flower adorned swing and all, and at the sight of it Carrie's pace faltered somewhat.

"Merlin, look at that!" she exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise. "Isn't that beautiful!"

Teddy felt rather as if he might swell with pride. His late night tumble and trip to the hospital seemed instantly worthwhile.

"D'you fancy a swing?" he asked, struggling to conceal the enormous grin that was threatening to spread across his face. Carrie did not help matters, for she immediately turned to ask:

"Did you do that?"

"Me? No...obviously not..."

"Liar!" the muggle sniggered as she hurried across the road to get a better look, dragging him after her. "I bet you did, those flowers look just like the ones you conjured on our first Valentine's Day..." Quite suddenly she came to an abrupt halt, staring down at the swing with eyes as wide as snitches, before she managed to ask: "Ted...is that...is that one the seats from your_ kitchen chairs_?"

"It...might be..." Teddy admitted, forced to stifle a snigger into his hand. "So, d'you want a go or not? It's a new and improved model!"

For a fleeting moment he wondered what he would say if she replied in the negative. But to his relief Carrie consented to sitting down, and he hurried round behind her to give her a push.

"D'you know," he asked her after a minute or so of her swinging back and forth, leaning her head back so that she could stare up at the sky, hair a chestnut cascade down her back, "what I got up to this week?"

"What was that?" Carrie asked, leaning back even further in order to offer him a smile.

"I went to St. Mungo's to visit your parents."

"You did?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I thought it was about time I did. They were ever so cheery, I gave your mum some sweets, they didn't stop talking about you, they kept asking where you were."

"Merlin..." Carrie sighed, frowning deeply up at the clouds. "I must go and visit them soon, I really must. In fact the twins ought see them, they've not visited them in such a long time!"

"I went and saw the twins, too. After I went to see your parents."

Carrie straightened up, her shoes scuffing the grass beneath the swing in an attempt to halt her swinging so that she could turn around to look at him.

"You went to visit my brothers?"

"I did."

"You went to visit my parents and then you went to visit my brothers...on your own, without me?"

"I did."

The muggle's expression grew distinctly accusing and Teddy had to fight against a grin when she observed:

"Something's going on! What's going on?"

"You're going to have to take them both shopping, their cupboards and completely bare and they'll probably starve by the end of the..."

"Ted! What're you up to? Tell me!"

"We sat down and had a cup of tea. It was very nice..."

"What did you talk about?"

"Oh, lots of things! Guy things, really, you wouldn't have found them interesting."

Carrie offered him an exaggerated pout.

"I think the three of you have been...plotting something." she accused, promptly grinning widely when he held his hands out in mock-innocence and asked:

"What, us? Plotting? Caroline! How could you!"

"Is it to do with my birthday?" Carrie asked, entirely unabashed by her probing. "No...not my birthday, that's too far away...my graduation! It's about my graduation! You're...you're throwing a party or...or something..."

"Nope."

"Te-ddy! Tell me!"

"Oh I don't know...what's it worth?"

Carrie leapt up from the swing and promptly launched herself at him with a shriek of frustration, Teddy found himself forced to grab hold of her by the wrists in an attempt to defend himself.

"Nu-uh!" he scolded, leaning to press a kiss to the bridge of her nose. "Sit back down, I'm not done telling you my story yet!" Pushing her carefully backwards until she consented to sitting back down, he told her: "Because then, last night, Dad and I had a late night excursion out here and I went climbing and fell out of this tree you're hanging from and broke my wrist..."

"You what?"

"...and Mum made me go to the hospital to get it fixed and I got stuck there for ages and ages and I didn't get home until silly o'clock in the morning!"

At the utterly mortified expression upon his girlfriend's face, Teddy consented to giving his hand a good wave in front of her face to demonstrate: "It's fine, good as new!"

In all honesty, Teddy didn't think that she looked terribly impressed.

"You're mental, Ted." she informed him after taking a long moment to absorb his tale, and he grinned and told her:

"I know, but it was all for good reason!"

And this was it, he realised. This was it, this was actually it...

He felt unexpectedly calm, gazing at her as he was, and so he reached forward to take hold of her by the hand, dropping down onto one knee as he did so. He paused, waiting for some sort of realisation to dawn on her face, but she was staring at him so intently that her expression remained remarkably unchanged.

"Carrie," he said, grip upon her hand tightening a little just in case he found himself trembling. "I went to see your parents because I wanted to let them know how loved you are and how important you are to me. Even if they only knew it for a moment. And I went to see your brothers because I wanted to ask them a very important question about you...about us. I wanted them to approve of...of me climbing up this tree and risk breaking my bones...and I broke my wrist because I've inherited one too many of my mum's clumsy genes, and...and because I wanted to do something special for you. Something perfect. Because I love you more than anything and there is nothing in the whole world more precious and dear to me than you."

"It is perfect, Teddy." Carrie told him, smiling down at him in so serenely that he rather wanted to throw his arms around her and risk having her topple backwards off the swing. Such a thought made him want to grin, but he allowed himself only a small smile instead as he mumbled:

"Not...not quite yet it isn't."

No sooner had he reached to dig around searchingly in his pocket, full realisation blossomed upon Carrie's face and by the time he had extracted the ring and held it up for her inspection her cheeks had gone a very satisfying shade of pink.

"Oh Merlin..." the muggle breathed, her hand that was still grasping hold of the swing tightening so much that her knuckles grew red, and then she drew in a deep, distinctly shaky breath, any more words apparently quite beyond her.

Teddy couldn't quite help but grin.

"Will you marry me, Carrie?" he asked, his heart thudding against his ribcage as he gazed up at her determinedly.

For a very long moment, Carrie simply squeezed her eyes shut, sucking in a deep breath and holding it, a broad smile spreading across her face, and then quite suddenly her eyes snapped back open again, she gasped in another distinctly excited breath and declared:

"There is absolutely, without a doubt, nobody else in the entire muggle world or the entire wizarding world that I would rather marry than you, Teddy!"

Teddy beamed at her.

"Is that a yes then, Miss Winters?"

"Do you know, Mr Lupin, I do believe it is!"

And with that, she launched herself off the swing and threw her arms around him, hugging him fiercely. It was not for near on a minute that Teddy pointed out:

"I've not put the ring on your finger, yet!"

"Oh!" Carrie exclaimed, smothering a giggle into the palm of one hand. "No, you haven't..."

"Give me your hand, then."

As he slipped the ring onto her finger, discovering it was only a little on the loose side, Teddy felt rather proud of himself. It had all gone so well, in the end. It certainly had been well worth all the drama the day beforehand.

"It's your mum's ring." Carrie identified, once she had held her hand up for inspection, admiring the sparkling little diamond upon her finger.

"That's right, she let me borrow it."

As she reached to run a finger over the smooth metal band, a somewhat faraway expression passed across Carrie's face before she murmured:

"That was really nice of her."

"So," Teddy said, reaching to slip an arm around her shoulders. "How'd you fancy wandering back to the house and showing her and Dad how much being engaged suits you? They're embarrassingly excited about everything, they'll probably be waiting by the front door or something..."

"Come on, then!" Carrie chuckled, casting one last beaming glance at the flower adorned swing as if attempting to fix the sight of it in her memory forever. "Let's go and put then out of their misery!"

To Teddy's surprise Remus and Dora were not waiting in the hallway when they arrived back. Instead, he and Carrie found the two of them sat in a surprisingly serene fashion in the sitting room, sipping from cups of tea, and pouring over a small stack of glossy magazines full of the latest stock of one wizarding shop or another. One glance at the page that his mother was currently examining suggested she was considering purchasing a new pair of boots for work, and judging from the sorry looking state of those currently adorning her feet as she stretched them out in front of her, this was a purchase that was long overdue.

"...and they fell apart within weeks of me buying them," she was reminding Remus, who was sat beside her as he took a sip of his tea, free hand fiddling absent-mindedly with the corner of the page. "I won't be buying those again! I was thinking these ones...they look much sturdier, d'you think so?" Before Remus could answer, however, she had glanced up at the doorway, an impressively casual and yet very telling gesture, and greeted: "Alright, Carrie love? Remus drag himself out of bed to fetch you eventually, did he? How've you been?"

As the witch pushed aside the magazines in order to rise to her feet and Carrie stepped forward to greet her properly, Teddy couldn't help but notice the distinctly amused expression that instantly spread across Remus' face.

"It's lovely to be back," Carrie was saying as Dora bestowed a crushingly tight hug upon her. "When are you due back at work?"

"Oh, I wasn't supposed to leave!" Dora explained cheerfully as she drew back, grinning broadly. "But I went and left my purse behind...I'd forget my head if it weren't screwed on! And then of course I figured I'd throw a bunk for half an hour, say hello to you."

"Everything alright then, up at the Ministry?"

"Not bad, not bad...I'm up in front of the Wizengamot this afternoon, so I figured nobody would miss me much this morning."

"What's Jasmine done wrong now?" Carrie asked, raising an eyebrow, and Dora rolled her eyes, only to admit:

"I'm not defending Jasmine today, actually. They're prosecuting some bloke I arrested a month ago...dull stuff! Anyway, how do you fancy," Dora wondered, retreating to the sofa to drop back down next to Remus, "dinner with us lot this evening? We're having..." she paused, frowning a little before elbowing the werewolf beside her in the ribs, causing him to supply:

"Shepard's pie."

"Exactly." Dora agreed. "And for pudding there's...um..."

"The leftover half of Ginny's Victoria Sponge cake she made yesterday." Remus finished for her, one hand reaching to grasp hold of her elbow in order to halt another attack on his ribs.

"Which might just be the best cake you ever eat!" Dora concluded, pulling her elbow free so that she could rest a hand in his lap instead. "So, how does that sound?"

"It sounds wonderful." Carrie said, rocking back on her heels rather too excitedly for a girl who had been offered dinner and cake, and Teddy supposed it was probably about time they all stopped pretending, so he suggested:

"I could go and buy some...champagne or something, to go with it, couldn't I Carrie?" he suggested, and he failed to suppress a snigger at the poor attempts his parents instantly made to look ignorant. He laughed out loud when they asked:

"Oh?"

"What's the occasion?"

And Carrie positively swelled with excitement as she slowly held out her hand towards them, giving the ring upon her finger a good wiggle for good measure.

And Teddy watched, grinning broadly as his parents plastered suitably shocked and bordering on comic expressions onto their faces as they exclaimed:

"Goodness me!"

"Merlin, would you look at that!"

"Isn't that wonderful!"

"Congratulations!"

"You can stop pretending, now." Teddy told them both as Carrie dissolved into laughter. "It's embarrassing."

"Oh good!" Dora said, at long last allowing an enormous grin to spread across her face as she slumped sideways against Remus' shoulder. "Because something occurred to Dad and I just now whilst we were looking through these magazines and I've been absolutely dying to tell you about it!"

"What's that?" Carrie asked as the two adults set about rummaging through the pile of magazines, before Remus finally found the one they were looking for and flicked through the pages until he found the right one. Dora promptly snatched it up, eyes widening dramatically as she prepared to hold up the magazine for the two of them to see.

"Can you imagine..." the pink haired witch asked, pausing elaborately for dramatic effect before thrusting the magazine under Carrie's nose to reveal a line up of young witches dressed in an assortment of frilly coloured frocks in every colour of the rainbow, "...CLEO CLANCY IN A BRIDESMAID'S DRESS?"

Carrie burst into such laughter that she very nearly choked on thin air, and as he himself stumbled back into the wall from an abrupt bout of hysterical laughter, Teddy had to admit that his parents might jus have stumbled upon one of the main sources of entertainment for his big day. Indeed, he could not imagine a sight more amusing and entertaining than Cleo in a dress...

And then there was the prospect of high heeled shoes...!

**Finish.**


End file.
